23

Welcome to the shit show

One of the strangest games I’ve ever seen. I don’t think I even really enjoyed it. I enjoyed texting and tweeting about it more than watching it. If you weren’t sure that Maddon is off his rocker? You should be sold on that now.

Misuse of the bench – again – NO ONE left when needed. Which is why Bryant (who is admitted “dinged up”) was even IN the game for that at-bat. My first thought when he got hit? Not “broken wrist.” Worse. I thought “Derrek Lee.” I hope he’s okay. When Russell comes back, I hope they give KB a few days off.

Rizzo at third? Just stupid. It’s great that he was all giggly about it, but to me? Scooter Gennett looked PISSED about it. And, if we’ve learned anything from history? Don’t mess with guys named Scooter. Probably. It appeared that he said something to Zobrist, who shrugged and it looked like he said, “I don’t know, man.” You just don’t DO stuff like that at this point in the season. And, quite frankly, you don’t kick a bad team when they are down, and that’s one bad team…who is going to be all kinds of fired up tonight.

The Cubs scored thirteen runs! More accurately said? The Reds gave up thirteen runs.

Heyward stepped into the time machine and is back in 2016. How does he swing with his foot upside down like that?

Thom Brennamannnn threw up in his own mouth at least four times.

Okay. So the Kyle Schwarber experiment at lead off failed. So did the Kyle Schwarber batting second. Can we PLEASE see him bat eighth – if he HAS to start at all?

Why isn’t Almora playing more? Can anyone explain THAT? Him and Jay are the best hitting outfielders on the team, and they PLATOON, kinda. Insert eye roll here.

Lackey stinks. The nicest thing they could say about him last night? He’s good for five innings every time out. So is Chris Bosio’s diaper, but we don’t want to see it.

Felix Pena throws hard. For a skunk.

Eugenio Suarez has 23 homers, and 19 of them are against the Cubs, I think. Here’s an idea. Have a pre-game talk about how to pitch to him, and then DO it.

Note to Thomm Brennnnammann – we KNOW that Joey Votto is a professional hitter. You don’t have to tell us that every at bat. He’s also spent his entire career on a shitty team and seems happy about it, so there’s that.

Cubs are ten games over .500 and pulling away a little…and I’m pissed off. Why is that?

Maybe because instead of drilling the first hitter in the bottom of the ninth, Maddon chose to play “musical fielders” instead.

Kind of my point. If they CAN read? They know these words. If they can’t read? Doesn’t matter.

All the more reason for good parental guidance. By now, everyone knows (or should) that if I’m writing, I rarely use a filter and therefore they should read it first before using it as a bedtime story. That’s just common sense.

But God, I love the scene in Christmas Story when Ralphie gets his mouth washed out with soap “to protect his old man.”

The Reds broadcasters Thom Brennaman and Chris Welsh were embraced and disgusted with their team. When the pitcher walked 3 batters to start the 8th and then hit the home plate umpire in the face with a fast ball because the catcher was crossed up I thought Thom was going to cry. They can’t throw a strike and then they can’t catch a simple fastball and kills the umpire. When the Reds trainer was tending to the umpire the ump said, “I can’t believe you guys don’t have someone better in AAA, or even single A for that matter.” The Reds training grinned and shrugged. Thom cried.

Then when Rizzo went to play third base in the 9th Thom thought it was rubbing salt in the wounds of the Reds. His team was getting shown up and it was obvious. In which his side kick Chris Welsh said, ‘It’s a 4 hour game. We have been walking guys, plunking guys and this is just something different to keep mentally engaged. It’s like, hey I am at third base, this is fun. It isn’t his fault it is a 4 hour game and we can’t throw a strike.” In which Thom cooled off and said something like, “Ya maybe but you wonder if it has a bit of showing the other team up on purpose.” Welsh didn’t think so, he was of the thought process of, ‘We are the ones that stink, let’s get our shit together before crying about what the other team is doing.’

Thom kept on saying, “I can’t believe the Reds were up 3-0 at one point and then 6-3 at one point before giving up 10 unanswered runs in truly ugly fashion.” He said this multiple times.

On a side note, I would of lost my house had I been able to place a bet in the 7th inning. Jay Baez was 0-2 and came back to get to a full count and then got a hit to drive in the game tying runs. Probably the pivotal AB of the game. When was the last time Javy Baez didn’t swing at 3 pitches after going down 0-2?

Bryzzo1744

Last year in the NLDS before Arrieta hit a 3-run HR

Jerry in Wisconsin

Mean while Len and JD were trying to figure out the number of letters on the back of today’s pitching match up. Someone needs to send those guys an abacus.

Jerry in Wisconsin

I was thinking about Addy Russell the other day. If I was him, the next time Len tries to call me a future MVP, I punch him in the face. Look at the year he has had since Len made that statement.

Jerry in Wisconsin

That game was dreadfully slow. Even the Cubs moved slow, if Lackey moved to home faster the Reds would not have scored that first run. How do you let someone beat you when you have a 30 foot head start?

Sherm

He runs faster on all fours?

Kyle

Scored 13 runs yesterday. Facing Triple A pitcher with a 7 ERA as a starter today in a hitters ballpark. That means they will score anywhere between 0 and 1 run(s).

Doug S.

This man’s crystal ball is crystal clear. I see a betting total around 10 for the game. Under is calling.

Bryzzo1744

9.5 or 10.5?

Doug S.

I saw 10 and 11, no hook.

Kyle

I’m taking the way-under. Reds win 3-1.

Bryzzo1744

You would have won yesterday but just barely

Doug S.

Uh-uh. That number was the total for both teams. The under was looking like a winner until our buddy Rondon took the hill.

Sherm

And Babe Suarez will surely light it up…

Junior Von White

My first thought was that Maddon has been watching too much little league and thus inspired him to manage like that, and then I thought maybe he should watch more little league and take notes about how to manage; no one with a decent baseball IQ thinks it’s OK to put your left handed first baseman at third at this point in the year.

Kyle

At that point in the game, with all position players used up, what was his other option? I didn’t watch so I really don’t know. From what I read there were no other options.

Jerry in Wisconsin

He could have put Avila at third, he has 7 more innings played there then Rizzo with his 1 inning.

Kyle

People would be criticizing that move as well. Not sure he could have made any move at that point that no one would criticize.

Michael S.

He might have caught flak for any move, but at least they would be somewhat defensible.

You know why you never hear of power-hitting, left-handed 3Bs? Because they don’t exist. Literally ANYONE who throws right handed is a better option.

Junior Von White

Been smarter leading up to that point. If his best option is a left handed 1B at third, then he needs to go back and take some managerial courses. We have all these “super utility” players (zobrist, Baez, happ, lastella) for these very reasons. Use them better.

Kyle

Maybe his pitchers need to pitch better so he doesn’t have to pinch hit for so many of them. And if Bryant doesn’t get injured we’re not even having this discussion. Can’t predict injuries.

Eddie Von White

I believe Sherm made the Bryant-shouldn’t-have-even-been-in-there point above. Some of us still read the top part. Any right hander at third would have been the classy thing to do. Putting Rizzo there was just trash. Maddon trying to be funny was unsportsmanlike.

Kyle

Fair enough. Just trying to defend the manager that brought us a World Series.

Sherm

Sure, but we haven’t WON a world series in over nine months, so there’s that.

Michael S.

He could have put Rivera there. He could have moved a right-handed outfielder there and put Rizzo in the outfield. Use a pitcher. There are always other options, granted, not all of those are necessarily better.

Sherm

There’s the rub – “all position players used up”

King In The Nawth

Sometimes I wonder if these articles on here are satire. This site was a lot more fun when the Cubs sucked and the future was bright. Now we’re about to head to the postseason for the third year in a row and all you guys do is whine.

Michael S.

1) A 2.5 game lead in late August isn’t a lock for the postseason. One bad series against the Brewers and they’re out of the lead.

2) The future can still be bright, while the present makes you wonder how in the world the team HAS the aforementioned 2.5 game lead. To wit:
a) The bullpen has two settings: very very good, and very very bad. There’s no in-between. It can either hold a 1-0 lead for as long as needed, or a 13-0 lead isn’t safe.
b) The guys who are playing the best aren’t playing all the time: see Almora, Albert.
c) The guys who aren’t playing as well ARE playing quite a bit: see Schwarber, Kyle.
d) I’m not sure the front office knows how to still put together a bullpen; Felix Pena has been up a lot more than Rob Zastryzny, and…just isn’t good. .265 Avg against, WHIP over 1.5, half as many walks as Ks. Rob Z has pitched ONE game with the Cubs this year, and got knocked around by the Yankees a fair bit. He was up for a day or two recently, went unused.

3) We’ve got a starting pitcher out there who has NO business starting for a major league team in John Lackey. Mike Montgomery would be by far a better option; only reason he’s going to be starting here for a game or two is because Lester is on the DL with a swollen ERA.

I’m sure there’s more, but…this team isn’t the 2016 Cubs. They’re not even really the 2015 Cubs. Completely fair to point out the flaws, even in victory.

King In The Nawth

You’re right this isn’t the 2015 or 2016 Cubs. 2016 was a crazy magical year with no injuries and players playing out of their minds. It’s like you guys all thought that now the young studs are all in the majors we’re guaranteed 100 wins a year for the next 5+ years. We played a .500 half season and we’re 25-12 since the break. This team is going to be a tough out in the playoffs. I think we’re one starting pitcher away from being legit World Series contenders again this year but you never know. Theo said his goal when he came over was to make the playoffs roughly 8 out of 10 years and maybe snag a ring or 2. I’d say he’s doing pretty well on that to this point.

Bryzzo1744

I get all that, but Joe Maddon is doing an awful job at managing the players. Even with injuries, we would probably have an extra 10 wins if our manager was someone like Sciosia or Girardi.

Eddie Von White

By winning the World Series the Cubs set the bar high. Why would we want to go back to the 108 year drought banter? Besides, the Johnsons’ are no longer with us (RIP) so we don’t have anybody to argue with. We try to argue with CAPS but all he does is quote Homer Simpson and we have no comeback after that.

Definitely not satire. I see no value in articles proclaiming their greatness right now because (sorry) they aren’t great. They’re not even very good. Luckily everyone else in the NLC sucks too or you wouldn’t think they were locked into the playoffs any more than I do. When they do good things we say so. When they don’t, we don’t. And sometimes, some people think something is good and someone else thinks it’s bad. Thank Christ for that or we’d really be boring.

Sherm

Did you just imply that I’m half man and half goat? Oh, SATIRE. I thought you said satyr. Never mind.

Seymour Butts

I thought it was a Jewish holiday.
Aloha.

Sherm

No, but I did look it up for a more accurate definition, and now I’m not at all offended by the description…in fact, in many ways, it’s not that far off:

The only thing more frustrating than a bad team is a team that is not playing up to its potential. That is the 2017 Cubs in a nutshell.

Doc Raker

Len and JD are satire. This site was a lot more fun when the Cubs were fun. Progress is fun, even if not in first place. The emergence of young talent is fun because it is progress. Watching the team regress even though it is in first place isn’t fun but we watch and hope for progress. Javy made progress last night and short circuited his reptile gotta swing brain. That was fun.

We are realist here at tVFTB. We don’t buy in to Len’s talking points on autopilot, we fly our own thoughts and opinions. Sometimes I am right and sometimes you are wrong when you don’t agree with me.

Hey, are you Len Kasper?

Jerry in Wisconsin

If Javy and Joe have reptile brains, What type of brain does Len have, or am I giving Len too much credit for even having a brain? Could it be that Len is just some type of animatron that just spews out some garbage that some back room fool spits out?

Doc Raker

Len’s artificial intelligence is programmed to spit out the Cubs talking points. “Schwarber has really improved his defense” “Javy Baez is an incredible athlete.”
“John Lackey has won 3 World Series” “Every player goes through a slump” “The Steve Miller Band is in town tonight” “That will be scored a hit”
Len’s first generation artificial intelligence but even as the AI generations get better the Cubs front office will only program him for their talking points. “Anything can happen in October”

Jerry in Wisconsin

So, we need to not only fire Len, we need to hire a spy to find the person responsible for the content Len spews out.

Doc Raker

I think firing Len and hiring a honest free thinking baseball broadcaster would do just fine

Jerry in Wisconsin

Ok, so I do not need a go fund me account for a spy. Too bad I was really looking forward to it.

Sherm

I was dreading the Joe Morgan innings last night, since he’s a known Cub-hater, but he was refreshingly not so bad. Very honest about players on both sides. Said “if you want to get Heyward out? Bust him in on the hands with a fastball – he can’t hit it.” and “if you want to get Baez out? Never throw him a pitch he can reach and he’ll do it for you.” Also said that Baez is a remarkable ball player who could someday harness it and put it all together and be one of the greats. So, there’s hope.

Albert Almora and Kyle Schwarber have the same number of hits.

Is Joey Votto a savant? He’s a great player but seems blissfully happy on a shitty team.

Is blissfully happy an oxymoron?

Is Joey Votto a moron? (Wow, that came full circle nicely)

Montgomery is capable of starting baseball games. He should be starting in place of Lackey. I know it was just the Reds, but their hitting DOESN’T suck, just their pitching. In that ballpark, to keep them from scoring was pretty impressive.

Rondidn’t.

I was trying to watch the Cubs, the LLWS game between NC and TX, the Pirates/Dodgers game and the Red Sox/Indians all at the same time. EVERYTHING worked out pretty well. Cubs won. NC won. Rich Hill lost the no hitter, perfecto, game and shutout all on one pitch, and the Red Sox stayed hot, which is bad for the Yankees. All in all, a good night.

LaStella and Almora need more playing time.

My starting nine, if the playoffs started tomorrow? This is not the batting order, but: Jay (LF) Almora (CF) and Heyward (RF) Bryant at third, Baez at short, LaStella at 2B and Rizzo at 1B. Contreras catching and Arrieta is my #1. I know I left Russell out. He’s had a tough year. If you want to platoon him at 2B with LaStella, fine. Or put him at SS vs Lefties and move Baez to 2b? Fine. But neither Schwarber or Zobrist would be starting for me at this point. Happ would be my first alternate at 2B or in the OF. Schwarber is my LH pinch hitter. Zobrist is late inning PH who can stay in the game, if needed. The Reds pitching staff will NOT be in the post-season, so this team needs it best offense – and that does not include Zo or Schwarbs right now.

Do they plan to carry 3+ catchers on the post-season roster? The plus being a minus (Schwarber) but my guess is YES, which is ridiculous, because a) Contreras is very durable, this hammy thing notwithstanding, and b) it shortens either the bench or bullpen, both of which are more important.

We got Stropped. When we will end the Schwarbrist line up? As Sherm has pointed out over and over and over and over Schwarbrist are the two worst hitters in the league yet they get more AB’s than anyone else. JJ and AA need to be at the top of the line up.

Jerry in Wisconsin

Why does Maddon insist that a his bull-pen flunkies (I reuse to call them relievers, what do they relieve?) must pitch a full inning?

Doc Raker

Page 4 of the mangers handbook: “Insert reliever for 1 inning and 1 inning only regardless of how many pitches said reliever needs to throw or how many runs said relievers allows.”